Track Central: Tom Jones Memorial Invitational

Friday, April 12

Gainesville, Fla.

University of Tennessee

Tom Jones Memorial Invitational

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics

April 11, 2024 | Track & Field

Meet Schedule Live Results Friday Stream Saturday Stream

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With less than two months of outdoor season remaining, the 2024 Tennessee track & field campaign continues this weekend with a highly anticipated trip to Gainesville, Florida, for the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational. The Vols and Lady Vols will toe the line against elite NCAA competition on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13, at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.

The action begins at 2 p.m. ET Friday with sophomore Brandon Pottinger representing the Big Orange in the men's high jump. Day 1 will conclude with the men's 400-meter hurdles at 6:45 p.m., featuring reigning SEC Runner of the Week Clement Ducos who clocked the collegiate leading time of 49.03 one week ago at the Tennessee Invitational.

Saturday's events begin at 9:45 a.m. with Vol rookie Kalib Branch lining up for the men's 110-meter hurdles. The meet will wrap up at approximately 6:40 p.m. with the men's 4x400-meter relay squad, currently entered as Emmanuel Bynum, Rasheeme Griffith, Ducos and Ja'Kwan Hale.

Full entries for the weekend can be found here. Dozens of Power 5 teams are set to compete at the meet, including SEC foes Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Texas A&M.

The final meet schedule can be viewed at FloridaGators.com. Live results will be provided throughout the meet by PrimeTime Timing, and the meet will be streamed online both days via SEC Network+.

COUREUR DE LA SEMAINE: The Southeastern Conference office announced Tuesday afternoon that Tennessee track & field graduate student Clement Ducos was selected as the SEC Men's Runner of the Week. The Bordeaux, France, native competed on his home track and posted a collegiate-leading and world top-5 ranked time in the 400-meter hurdles on Friday at the Tennessee Invite.

Ducos cleared 10 hurdles around the oval at Tom Black Track in a lifetime-best 49.03 seconds to place first overall at the annual home meet. His mark ranks No. 1 in the NCAA this season and No. 4 on the 2024 World Athletics Top List and made him the No. 3 performer in Tennessee history. Additionally, Ducos became the No. 8 French performer all-time in the 400-meter hurdles.

RANKINGS UPDATE: After a strong showing on the home track at the Tennessee Invite, the Lady Vols climbed 15 spots to No. 15 in the latest release of the USTFCCCA Track & Field Rating Index. On the men's side, Tennessee sits No. 32 with several top performers set to make their season debuts in the coming weeks.

Additionally, the Big Orange boasts 26 top-8 marks on the SEC Performance List for the 2024 outdoor season:

Dennisha Page – Women's 100m – 11.27 (SEC No. 8)
T'Mars McCallum – Men's 200m – 20.64 (SEC No. 8)
Dennisha Page – Women's 200m – 23.08 (SEC No. 7)
Brianna White – Women's 200m – 23.10 (SEC No. 8)
Javonya Valcourt – Women's 400m – 51.69 (SEC No. 4)
Brianna White – Women's 400m – 51.86 (SEC No. 5)
Christopher Cherry – Men's 1,500m – 3:44.26 (SEC No. 7)
Jacob Lewis – Men's 5,000m – 13:50.75 (SEC No. 6)
Kayla Gholar – Women's 5,000m – 16:05.28 (SEC No. 4)
Brandon Olden – Men's 10,000m – 28:30.52 (SEC No. 4)
Dean Casey – Men's 10,000m – 28:46.21 (SEC No. 7)
Emily Covert – Women's 10,000m – 33:34.94 (SEC No. 6)
Ashley Jones – Women's 10,000m – 33:34.96 (SEC No. 7)
Rachel Sutliff – Women's 10,000m – 33:34.97 (SEC No. 8)
Clement Ducos – Men's 400m Hurdles – 49.03 (SEC No. 1)
Ja'Kwan Hale – Men's 400m Hurdles – 50.16 (SEC No. 5)
Will Cahill – Men's 3,000m Steeplechase – 8:56.54 (SEC No. 4)
Brett Brady – Men's 3,000m Steeplechase – 8:59.33 (SEC No. 5)
Men's 4x100m Relay – 39.83 (SEC No. 8)
Women's 4x100m Relay – 42.98 (SEC No. 1)
Men's 4x400m Relay – 3:05.69 (SEC No. 6)
Women's 4x400m Relay – 3:29.30 (SEC No. 3)
Grant Campbell – Men's High Jump – 2.12m / 6-11.5 (SEC No. 7)
Evan Puckett – Men's Pole Vault – 5.33m / 17-5.75 (SEC No. 2)
Sarah Schmitt – Women's Pole Vault – 4.15m / 13-7.25 (SEC No. 6)
Aron Alvarez Aranda – Men's Discus – 58.44m / 191-9 (SEC No. 4)

UP NEXT: Next week, Sean Carlson's distance squad will head to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Wake Forest Invitational on Friday, April 19. UT will also send distance runners to Charlottesville, Virginia, for the UVA Challenge April 19-20.